Bare All Read online

  “Not yet. Thank you. I’m stuffed.”

  “I send you snacks in an hour or two.” I chuckle. Summer would love this woman. “And you, Will?” she asks, a warm smile on her face.

  “I’m good, thanks. I’m not eating for two. Come, baby. I want to show you around your hotel. Don’t scowl. It’s half yours. Get used to it.” Marina is nearly giggling as she walks away with our empty plates.

  “What if I don’t want it?” I bite.

  “What?” he breathes.

  “What if I don’t want half of everything that’s yours? What if it’s just yours?”

  “Eva...” He reaches across the table for my hand. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

  “I married you, Will. You! Not your fucking portfolio!” I drop my head and clear my throat. I said that much louder than I intended. “Sorry.”

  “Come,” he says softly after a beat, pulling me up from my seat.

  We walk in silence out to the porch area and into the lush tropical grounds. We keep going, up to a pergola laden with flowers that looks out across the lagoon. I step over to the white railings and draw deep lungfuls of fresh, salty air.

  I feel Will move in close behind me. His hands slide down my arms. “Eva. You’re my wife. I love you. And, more than you will ever know, I love that you love me. Me, and not my portfolio, but I want to share my life with you. And that is all part of it. It’s a part of who I am, but if you’re telling me you don’t like it...then we’ll sell up and—” I gasp and spin around to face him.

  “I love this place, Will. Of course I do! I...” He puts a finger on my lips, and I frown.

  “Then tell me what you don’t like about it...Cactus?”

  “Well, I don’t really know enough about it to...” I stutter, my eyes darting from side to side.

  “Do you want to know?”

  “No. Not now.”

  “I want you by my side, Eva. In everything we do. I’ve never wanted to share my life with anyone before. But the thought of you being separate from me. From this... I’d rather sell and start again.”

  “You feel that strongly about this?”

  “Yes.” He nods firmly, his eyes deadly serious. “Baby, it’s not that I want to take care of you...I mean, I do, but not just that. I want us. I want ours. I want forever. With you. Don’t you see? I’ve never wanted that before. I...I’ve never had that before.”

  “Oh, Will!” I get it. I finally bloody get it. It’s not about him wanting to give me anything. It’s about him needing me to accept everything he is. And everything he was. I push up on my tiptoes and press my lips to his. He groans and deepens the kiss, squeezing me to his chest with his arms around my back, his hips pinning mine to the railings behind me. I pull my mouth from his, my head falling to the side as his lips move over my neck.

  “Please show me around our hotel, husband.”

  “In a minute,” he growls and moves back to my mouth to kiss me senseless.

  “So, this is the pergola,” he says, allowing me to catch my breath for a few seconds. “A great spot for after-dinner drinks. When one’s wife isn’t pregnant, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  “Beach is that way.” Will jerks his head to the right. “The village is that way.” He indicates the left.

  “The village?”

  “Yeah, it’s what we call the area of the site with guest accommodations and villas.”

  “Oh, cool. Can we go see?”

  Will and I stroll, hand in hand, around this impressive tropical paradise as he points out features and facilities. I will never see it as mine. But I might manage to live with ours.

  Will introduces me to every member of staff we see, and some of the staff introduce him to nearby guests as the owner. He is very quick to tell them all that I’m his wife. I chuckle as we walk onwards, away from the last couple to stop and say hello.

  “You like saying that, don’t you?” I muse.

  “What’s that?”

  “My wife.”

  “I bloody do.” I chuckle again, shaking my head. “And I think it’s time we went down...to the beach.”

  “Okay. I need to go change first then.”

  When we arrive back at our villa, Marina has sent a tropical fruit platter. It’s waiting on the kitchen worktop, dotted with ice cubes to keep it fresh. If it were possible to love her more, I think I just might.

  I select a hunk of watermelon and wander through to the bedroom in search of swimwear. Will follows, sauntering casually over to the walk-in wardrobe. When he emerges a few minutes later, he’s ready for a swim. My mouth dries, and I turn around the other way as I pile my hair on top of my head. Bloody hormones!

  “You okay there?” Will’s mouth is right at my ear, his warm, sweet breath making my bare shoulders rise a few inches as it tickles my neck.

  “Yep,” I squeak, as I reach for the other half of my bikini.

  “You don’t need that.” He plucks my bikini top from my hand and tosses it on the bed. I turn my head to watch it land. “We have a private beach.”

  “Oh.”

  “Come with me.” Will takes my hips and guides me forward, walking right behind me, his body touching mine. I glance around when I feel him reach for something. “I can’t have you getting burnt, now, can I?”

  We pause, and Will fills his palm with suntan lotion and smooths it over my shoulders. His strong hands circle, his thumbs pressing into my flesh, and I draw a deep breath but gain absolutely zero control.

  “You like that?”

  “Hmm.” My head falls forward a little, and Will refills his palm with more lotion.

  “I can tell.” His hands move lower, across my shoulder blades, down the sides of my rib cage and every inch of skin between, until my back is completely covered. His fingertips dip under my waistband, and I giggle. But when they slide around to my front, it’s not funny anymore.

  “Will...”

  “Shh. I’ve never had so much fun putting sun cream on.”

  “We won’t make the beach if you don’t stop.” He immediately withdraws his hands and steps back. Oh?

  “You’re right. You do the rest.”

  “Umm...okay...?” Now I’m all hot and bothered. And confused. I didn’t bloody mean it!

  “Do you want some on?” My brain is smothering him in factor fifty. All of him.

  “I did it already.”

  “Oh.”

  Will watches me rub the lotion into all-bare skin, and then jerks his head towards the door. “Let’s go.”

  The beach. Oh my God, the beach! Pure white sand, and sun-sparkled turquoise ocean. Tall palm trees sway in the sea breeze, and the sun is blazing in a perfect cloudless sky. And there’s no one else here. Of course. Private beach.

  There’s a small, thatched hut and hammocks hanging in the shade of the palms, as well as two luxuriously padded sunbeds. “I have a confession to make.” Will’s hand slides across my slick tummy, and he pulls me backwards half a step, my back to his front. “When you came to Escape that first time, this is what I was thinking about.”

  “What was?” He moves fast and scoops me up, before laying me down in the sand and half lying over me.

  “This.” His mouth lowers to mine, and his hand travels slowly up my side, grazing my ribs and cupping my breast. I suck in a breath as his thumb circles my nipple. My hands go to his hair, and I feel him smile as he continues to kiss me, his tongue soft and warm.

  “And then you said something about Alice in Wonderland,” he mumbles. He pecks my lips once more, and his hand falls to the sand at my side. “And I had to behave.” He’s not doing that to me again. Forget it!

  I push him onto his back and straddle his hips. “Well. Now you definitely shouldn’t behave.”

  “Oh? Why’s that?” His fingertips trace wavy patterns on my calves. I know what he’s doing. And I’m not going to let him.

  “Because your wife wants you. Right now.” I lean forward and bring my mouth to w
ithin a fraction of his, shifting my weight to catch his erection. Two can play this game. “Unless...you don’t want to?”

  Will lifts his head and takes my mouth, his hands sliding up the backs of my thighs to my bum. I break away from his lips and drop down to his throat, my movements purposely slow and teasing. I move lower, brushing his hard-on with my belly as I go, and trail tiny kisses between his pecs.

  I shift to the right (his left) and trace my name over his heart with the tip of my tongue, and Will groans. Oh yeah, now he’s feeling it. His touch shifts from my bum and glides slowly up to my shoulders and along my arms. I take his hands and thread my fingers through his. He’s teased me enough. This is payback.

  I pin them at his sides, restraining him, and lick his nipple. Will jolts with a gasp, his hips pushing up. But when I bite down gently, he groans a sound that makes me ache. I press my weight heavily on him, feeling him throb beneath me. I keep moving lower, over his abs.

  Will’s breathing has picked up its pace. I release his hands, since I need to use mine, but when they tangle in my hair, I pin them again. No problem. I’ll use my teeth.

  I take hold of the material, just below the waistband of his trunks, with my teeth and pull down one side. Then the other, until the head of his cock is visible. I kiss it lightly and it bobs, like he’s straining to get in my mouth. Nope.

  I pull on each side again, edging them a little lower, and lick the exposed portion of his manhood, and repeat until the swim shorts are just below his balls.

  “Will?” I breathe between teasing licks. “I’m so hungry.” His fingers flex and then tighten on mine. I take him in my mouth, right down to the root, and suck hard back up again, releasing him with a pop. I slide my fingers slowly out from between his. “Marina left fruit though, right?”

  I move fast, before he can realise what happened and react. I make a dash for the villa, and Will calls out in a strangled voice. “Eva! Fuck!”

  I run and run, right into the kitchen, and perch on a stool in front of the fruit platter, laughing too much to actually eat anything.

  I swallow my giggle as Will stalks in, reddened cheeks and stark naked. His jaw is set as hard as his cock, his eyes hotter than the sun. He is at my side in two strides. He swoops in and scoops me up across his arms, and marches right back outside.

  “I’m going to fuck you. On the beach. Right now.”

  “You sure? You don’t want to tease me anymore?”

  “Eva...that wasn’t funny.”

  “Yeah, it was.”

  “No. It wasn’t.”

  “Well, maybe it was about as funny as a half-naked, pregnant-hormone-charged massage that led absolutely nowhere?”

  “You’ve made your point.”

  “Oh, good.”

  Will is almost running across the sand to the sunbed. He lays me on it and follows instantly. He yanks down my bikini bottoms, and I kick them off. “I hate it when you tease me.”

  “No, you don’t.” Will is inside me in one swift movement. “But maybe it’s not so fun when you’re pregnant? Maybe I should have taken account of the raging hormones?”

  “Yes,” I gasp, my fingers digging into his back as he bucks into me.

  “I’m sorry. How can I make it up to you?” His voice is low and smooth, melting any sense I might have had left to a puddle of uselessness.

  “Don’t bloody stop!” I yell, wrapping my legs around his waist, my hands pressing him closer. I groan as my spine arches and my head tips back. Oh my God! I love that. That hard, unrelenting thing he’s doing. Steady and smooth.

  Will circles his hips, and I whimper.

  “Tell me, baby. Tell me how you want it.”

  “Just like that. Please. Please.”

  “This?” he asks. I can hear his teasing smile, but I don’t give a single shit when he rams into me.

  “Yes!” He does it again and again, until I’m clawing at his skin.

  “You’re so beautiful, Eva.” He circles his hips. Alternating between hard thrusts and teasing swivels, until I boil over. My body curls up around Will’s as my muscles tighten and tremble. Will lowers his mouth to my ear, and he drains every last ounce of ecstasy out of me before he joins me on the other side.

  Will shifts his weight and stretches out next to me on the sun lounger, his legs tangled with mine. I burrow into his shoulder and try to catch my breath as he pulls me around to face him, tummy to tummy.

  “If I’d have known it would be like that, on that first day when I was here in my head...Christ, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my hands off you.”

  “I didn’t want you to. I wanted a tour of upstairs.” I feel Will’s gasp, and he pushes back from me a bit.

  “You did?”

  “Aha.” I move closer to him again and get comfy.

  “I wish I’d known that.” He kisses my hair and sighs as he lays his head down on his outstretched arm.

  “I wanted you the minute we met. On the terrace. But I didn’t want to admit it.”

  “Why?” I feel his big breath. “Why did you want me? I’d already seen you turn down every other trapper.” I flinch. “Sorry.” He kisses my hair again.

  “I...I don’t know why. There was just something about you I was drawn to. And when I touched you...shook your hand...I knew it was a bad idea to touch you at all if I didn’t want to end up in your bed.”

  “I hoped you felt it too. Eva...” He gently pushes against my shoulder to roll me onto my back. “I have known a lot of women.” He shakes his head with a little smile when I scowl. “And none of them, not one, has ever made me feel anything at all. And you, you broke through my façade with a simple handshake. I knew I was yours, right then and there. And I drove myself nuts trying to figure out a way to make you mine. If I had known you felt the same...I would have slept easier is all.”

  “Well, you can sleep soundly for the rest of your life, Mr Hunter. I’m yours, and you’re mine.”

  “Thank God.” Will sighs and his whole body relaxes. His eyes flutter closed, and I peck his lips before settling my head on his shoulder again.

  Chapter 16

  “You look stunning.” My gaze moves to Will’s in the full-length mirror as I tie my plait securely with a clear elastic.

  “Thank you. So do you.” Will’s eyes trip over my reflection. He seems to like it when I wear a dress. I assume this is one that he picked out, since it was hanging in the wardrobe. It graduates through peach at the neckline to deep rose-red around my ankles. Will looks delicious in his jeans and rolled-up sleeves. He’s obviously very used to the heat.

  “She was right. Those colours do highlight your beautiful eyes.”

  “Oh? Who’s she?”

  “The personal shopper who helped me choose your honeymoon attire.” Will flashes me a smile. “You’ve got a great tan already.” He steps closer and runs his fingers around the tied halter neck. “Now, aren’t you glad you don’t have tan lines?”

  “Very.” I giggle, and Will’s eyebrow jumps.

  “I need to feed you both before we burn any more calories, Mrs Hunter.” I turn to the side to face Will and peck his lips with a sigh.

  “If you insist.”

  “I do.” He nods firmly and offers me his arm.

  “I just need to grab something from reception, sweetheart.” Will leads the way through the grounds to the thatched reception building, nodding and greeting all the staff. He seems like a good boss.

  Will’s feet stop dead as we cross the threshold, his eyes glued to the man at the reception desk. “Here you are, Mr Martin. Enjoy your stay, again.” The receptionist smiles and hands the man a key card as the porter picks up his luggage. Will lets out a little ‘huh’ when the man turns. Their eyes lock, and recognition dawns on the man fumbling for the support of the reception desk.

  “Get. Out.” Will growls with such savagery I jump.

  “Will...” the man breathes.

  “I said. Get the fuck out!” Will’s arm leaves mine as he s
talks towards the man. He snatches the suitcase from the stunned porter and throws it at the would-be guest with enough force to make the man stumble. “Now,” he snarls, his teeth bared.

  “Will! What is going on here!” Marina calls as she rushes in.

  “You let this man stay here, or any place I fucking own again, and you’re all fucking fired. Get him out of my fucking sight.”

  Marina gasps, her hand flying to her mouth. “What—” she begins.

  “He’s my son,” the man says quietly. And I stumble. That’s Will’s dad? Him? Marina puts herself squarely between Will and his father; her back is to me so I can’t see her face as she speaks quickly and quietly. Will’s eyes flick to me, and he snaps out of wherever he was and rushes over. “Eva?” His hands run up and down my arms. “I’m sorry. I lost it. Are you okay? Is the baby okay?”

  “He’s your...?” Will’s nostrils flare, and his jaw tightens.

  “Come. I don’t want you in the same room as this.” Will’s hard glare lands back on Marina, and she nods before Will leads me out, gently but at a steady pace.

  “Will...?” He shakes his head, his eyes dead ahead, his jaw ticking under his skin as we walk. He stops as though he just hit a wall.

  “I’m going back.”

  “No! No, you’re not. You’re staying with me. With us.” I grab his hand and place his palm over his baby. “This is what matters.”

  “Baby...” Will chokes, and I wrap my arms around him, soothing him. His muscles are trembling. Straining with the effort of staying put.

  “I’m sorry, Will. I’m so sorry you had to live with that.”

  “What if I’m just as bad as he is, Eva?” I gasp and push back to see his face.

  “How can you say that? How can you even think that! You! You are the most amazing daddy. So loving and caring. You have so much fun with the girls...”

  “But I didn’t want her either. Mae. Not to begin with.” His head droops, and I force his eyes back to mine.

  “And no one can blame you for that! It was a shock. A bloody huge shock! But you got over it. You dealt with it. That’s the difference, Will. You were there for Mae from day one. You made sure she was loved and taken care of every day. You have provided for her in ways most parents can only dream of. And now...you’ve taken responsibility for another little girl, who is so lucky to call you Daddy.